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'Children should go places, make things, sing, play, look closely at the world, meet fascinating people and learn about themselves.

'We risk preparing for the future to the extent we overlook the present that all children deserve...a joyful childhood.'

Mr Waters was the architect of the new secondary curriculum, which led to a paring down of subject content and encouraged teachers to make links between subjects.

The move angered some teachers who believed that the emphasis on cross-curricular work watered down their specialisms in subjects such as history and geography.

He was also involved in recent primary curriculum reforms.

Meanwhile, a recent damning report by Unicef found that Britain's children were the unhappiest in Europe. They were among the least likely to enjoy school or to rate their happiness levels as above average.

Overall they felt left out, awkward and even lonely. Experts have blamed the problems on a number of factors including the breakdown of traditional family life.

But researchers from the Institute for Education at London University have claimed that children's emotional well-being could also be suffering because teachers pay too much attention to tests and not enough to the children themselves.

Pressure on teachers to make their pupils achieve national standards causes them to focus their lessons on how to pass tests.

This makes children anxious and fearful, stifles their creativity and ruins their confidence in their ability to judge their own work, according to their research.

Nansi Ellis, head of education policy at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said yesterday: 'Children should not leave primary school stressed and tested to within an inch of their lives.'

But Children's Minister Baroness Morgan said: 'We do not subscribe to the view that testing is ruining childhood. We are making huge strides in building a fully rounded education that looks at the whole child.'